diff --git a/DOCS/xml/en/ports.xml b/DOCS/xml/en/ports.xml
index 0fbbd4c536..acdd9057cc 100644
--- a/DOCS/xml/en/ports.xml
+++ b/DOCS/xml/en/ports.xml
@@ -18,8 +18,26 @@ Report problems to the authors, not to us.
 <para>
 To build a Debian package, run the following command in the
 <application>MPlayer</application> source directory:
+
 <screen>fakeroot debian/rules binary</screen>
+
+If you want to pass custom options to configure, you can set up the
+<envar>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS</envar> environment variable. For instance,
+if you want GUI and OSD menu support you would use:
+
+<screen>DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS="--enable-gui --enable-menu" fakeroot debian/rules binary</screen>
+
+You can also pass some variables to the Makefile. For example, if you want
+to compile with gcc 3.4 even if it's not the default compiler:
+
+<screen>CC=gcc-3.4 DEB_BUILD_OPTIONS="--enable-gui" fakeroot debian/rules binary</screen>
+
+To clean up the source tree run the following command:
+
+<screen>fakeroot debian/rules clean</screen>
+
 As root you can then install the <filename>.deb</filename> package as usual:
+
 <screen>dpkg -i ../mplayer_<replaceable>version</replaceable>.deb</screen>
 </para>